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UTV spotlights Spotboy with 3 films

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UTV Motion Pictures, which listed on London's Alternative Investment Market in July to raise $70 million, announced three new Hindi film projects Monday via its Mumbai-based subsidiary Spotboy Motion Pictures.

Established in May, Spotboy announced its first production agreement in August with Bangalore-based Virgin Comics — founded by Richard Branson, Shekhar Kapur ("Elizabeth") and Deepak Chopra — to create four original superhero franchises leveraged across publishing, film, animation and gaming (HR 8/11).

Spotboy creative and business head Vikas Bahl said the films will have "medium- to high-end budgets, depending on the nature of the project."

Benegal is taking a comic turn with "Mahadev," which examines life in a village seen through the eyes of a young man who wants to be a writer but ends up being a letter-writer outside the post office.

Explaining his film, which stars upcoming actor Abhay Deol, Kashyap said: " 'Dev D' takes the classic romantic novel 'Devdas' into contemporary times. The idea is to make this well-known story relevant to today's generation."

"Amir" features its title character (TV actor Rajeev Khandelwal) as a young Muslim professional who lands at Mumbai Airport expecting to be greeted by his family but instead is thrown a cell phone and from that moment has to follow instructions of a faceless, nameless voice.

Bahl said that "Mahadev" already has begun shooting while "Amir" rolls at the end of October. Filming on "Dev D" will begin in January.